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entered into civil government, helping develop the city. He was a member of the House of Representatives, served on the City Council, was appointed Street Superviser,7 and was the first Marshall of Salt Lake City. 8 Following the principles of his church, he had married Jemima Morris in 1851. Tragically, a year later, she died in childbirth. The little one did not survive. On November 22, 1852, he married Caroline Erickson. In 1852 he was called on his first church mission to the British Mission. With the unexpected death in 1853 of Willard R. Snow, he was re-assigned to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he shortly became president of the mission.9 It was here that he first became acquainted with and grew to love the Scandinavian people. Under his devoted care, over a thousand of them joined the Mormon Church and were guided to Utah. From there, most of them were assigned to Sanpete County. While on this first mission, John was contacted by Karl G. Maeser, noted educator. Some say it was John who converted Brother Maeser.10 On his way home from his first mission, he stopped at Iowa City to help outfit the handcart pioneers before returning home to Utah. All went well with these handcart companies until the Willy and Martin Companies ran into the terrible weather of an early winter in the upland country of Wyoming. John was one of those sent back from Utah to help rescue them." In 1857 John's cousin, Parley P. Pratt, was murdered by a knife-wielding assassin. Later General Johnston's United States Army, under orders of President Buchanan, caused near panic in the Utah valley. The people were ordered to evacuate, and streams of wagons filled with belongings and citizens fled south. John's daughter Martha and her two children camped part of the summer down on a section of the Jordan River. John was assigned with 18 |
